We’re pleased to announce the winners of the NGO Impact Award, a new award that recognizes Google Online Marketing Challenge student teams that made an outstanding difference to their nonprofit partners via superb online marketing campaigns. The deciding factors for these winners were the effectiveness of the campaign and a 200-word report on how the advertising impacted the nonprofit. The reports were judged by an independent panel of nonprofit leaders.

Prizes for the winners include:

1st place - $15,000 donation to the nonprofit partner

2nd place - $10,000 donation to the nonprofit partner

3rd place - $5,000 donation to the nonprofit partner

Congratulations to the following winners!

1st PlaceMichael Albrecht and Christian Pfeifhofer taught by Dr. Horst Treiblmaier from Vienna University of Economics and Business worked with TrashDesignManufaktur. TrashDesignManufaktur is a non-profit organization in Vienna which offers unemployed persons the opportunity to learn new skills by up-cycling electronic waste and discarded machines into high-quality design objects, such as jewelry and furniture.

3rd Place
The team of Erin Blatzer, Lauren Davis, Carolina Thomas, and Jeffrei Clifton taught by Professor Steven Koch from University of Houston partnered with the Houston Symphony. The Symphony is one of America's oldest performing arts organizations and performs approximately 170 concerts each year for more than 350,000 Houstonians.

You’ve probably already found out the logistical information. Like how there are 100 students selected to travel to the Google offices in New York or California for one week each summer as pre-interns, and that the main goal of the program is to immerse you in Google’s culture through work projects, seminars and activities. The information you’ve found introduces the skeleton of this program. Allow me to bring it to life.

I had the opportunity to go to the New York office in July, and my weeklong experience was nothing less than amazing. You often hear about the unique culture at Google and it’s easy to be skeptical. You really must see it for yourself! From the fun and collaborative environment to the “to die for” food in the cafes, everything is set up in a way that promotes interaction and ensures fun. In the NYC office, there was a huge game area, a massage room, scooters for people who like riding around the office more than walking, a gym, and a free snack bar on every floor.

The part that stood out the most to me was the casually dressed employees. It felt so comfortable and real. I love the fact that Google prides itself on the work ethic of their employees, not how fancy their suits are. I also noticed the genuine enthusiasm of every single leader in the program. They were excited about their job, this experience and, most importantly, delighted about teaching and sharing it with us. The passion that they have for Google shined through every activity and in every piece of advice they gave us. In our free time, I got to connect with the leaders and the other students on a different level. We went to an Italian buffet, a movie theatre, bowling alley, and strolled through Times Square.

BOLD Immersion students listening in on one of the Googler panels

In addition to the fun activities they planned for us, I learned a lot about myself and even more about what Google has to offer me through the workshops, the Googler panels, and the one-on-one talks with employees and executives from various areas within the company. Every person who presented openly shared their story and was more than happy to answer any questions.

The case study was our main project and took up most of our time. We were tasked with creating a marketing strategy that would effectively promote Google’s Enterprise products to minority-owned businesses. After being briefed, we broke up into groups and conducted extensive research over the next couple days using whatever resources we could find, including Googlers themselves. The best aspect of the groups was that everyone brought something different to the table. We came from a variety of schools with a range of majors and interests, a fact that gave each group more perspective. After three days of preparation, each group pitched their marketing campaign to representatives from the Accelerate team, an initiative that strives to make “Google’s products a comprehensive value-driven solution for underrepresented and emerging audiences.” The top teams were awarded gift cards from Southwest Airlines; my group was runner-up!

This program did so much more than just introduce me to Google’s culture; it brought out the “BOLD” in me. I learned how to effectively work with different personality types in a productive manner. I now treat my resume as a living, breathing document. I also have an incredible and supportive network of people. The immersion program gave me a true taste of the magic that is Google. I can only hope that I have the opportunity to continue learning and working with them through the BOLD internship.

“Find something you love to do and do it!” “Make friends and network!” “Don’t be afraid to give yourself credit for a job well done.” This is a small sampling of the advice Google women engineers shared with the more than 160 women who attended September’s Google.GetAJob() events in Google’s Boulder, Cambridge, Pittsburgh and Waterloo offices. Google.GetAJob() is a career development workshop intended to help women undergraduate and graduate computer science students prepare for successful careers in technology. The event brings women together to learn from Google engineers, gain technical interviewing skills and develop strong peer networks. Sarah Scodel, an MIT undergrad, attended the workshop pilot last January and then worked as a Software Engineering Intern in Google’s Cambridge office last summer. Here’s what she has to say about her experience with Google.GetAJob() and her internship:

Tell us a little bit about yourself and how you first got interested in computer science?
I had absolutely no idea what I would study when I got to MIT. I had always been good at math and really liked economics, so I figured I would probably be a Business or Economics major. I had absolutely no programming experience (I didn't even know what a terminal was, let alone how to use it.), but halfway through my first semester at MIT, I realized that I had better acquire some computer skills. I took an Introduction to Python class over our January term and discovered that programming was kind of fun. After that, I took a few computer science classes and was hooked.

Why did you decide to attend Google.GetAJob()?
In January of my Sophomore year, I got an email about the Google.GetAJob event and thought it might be useful, since I hadn’t had much experience with the difficult technical interviews I’d heard so much about and wanted to learn more about the process. I had also heard from other MIT students that Google was an awesome place to work, and everyone who worked there was super smart and and passionate about their job, so I wanted to check out the Google office.

What made you decide to apply for an internship at Google after attending Google.GetAJob()?
When I went on the office tours at the Google.GetAJob() event, I was struck by how excited everyone seemed about their work. The atmosphere was really great, and everyone I saw seemed legitimately happy to be at work, which you don't always get at a lot of companies. I thought that I could learn a lot from a Google internship, and I wanted to be in a place where people actually care about and enjoy their jobs.

Were there any specific aspects of Google.GetAJob() that you felt helped you when you interviewed at Google?
The mock interviews were incredibly helpful. It was great to get feedback and advice from somebody who actually conducts interviews and knows what most interviewers are looking for. I learned how to talk through a problem and to clearly explain my thought process. I think one of the big takeaways was that I shouldn't panic during the interview, even if I don't know the answer, and that it’s ok to ask a lot of questions because that means you are considering the problem from every angle.

How did your intern experience change your perspective on what it’s like being a woman in technology and at Google?
I worked with the Google+ team and had an amazing time as an intern! I learned so much not just from the work that I did but also from the people on the team. Google has lots of groups specifically for women, and I met a lot of really smart and talented women engineers at Google.

Do you have any advice that you would share with other women who are applying for engineering opportunities at Google?
Definitely prepare for the interview by answering mock questions and practice coding on a whiteboard and, most importantly, don't panic. Try to have fun answering the question by thinking about it as a puzzle.

Interested in learning more about similar Google programs and scholarships? Check out Google’s Student Site.

Introduction: Jeff Moore, Lead Engineering Recruiter at Google, talks about how you can best prepare for a technical interview in this week's Recruiter Tips & Tricks post. Interested in internships or full-time roles at Google? Check out our newly redesigned student jobs site at www.google.com/students.

Welcome back, everyone; I hope things are going well. It’s time for my favorite blog of the series. Seriously, as a recruiter I like nothing better than having a candidate come in for an interview and show off amazing technical skills! All recruiters love this because we spend our time looking for great talent...and it’s rewarding to see people do well. So, I’m going to share with you some quick and easy tips to help you rock the technical interview. Here we go:

Do your homework - Doing well in a technical interview is as much about what you do before the interview as what you do during the interview. Most software companies that perform really technical interviews are going to ask you questions about coding, system design and algorithms. You should search the web for sample questions so you’ll know what to expect. If someone asks you a question during the interview that you found during your research, make sure to tell them so they can ask you a different question.

Refresh your skills - In addition to doing your homework, you should brush up on your software engineering skills. Get your old Computer Science books out and reread the chapters on algorithms, complexity theory and all that fun stuff. A lot of schools also publish courses online. MIT, for example, has “Open Courseware”, where you can go and actually take a look at the undergrad and graduate level courses taught there. It’s a pretty good way to make sure you’re up to date and feeling good about your core Computer Science skills.

Know your resume - Obvious tip alert! Many times you’ll be asked to explain previous projects that you’ve worked on. It is critical that you are able to speak articulately about your past work, which could include being able to explain the algorithm and its implementation. Remember the most difficult bug and how you fixed it.

Rinse and repeat for desired results - Once you’ve done all this, the best way to make sure you ace the interview is to practice, practice and more practice. I’d recommend you check out sites like Stack Overflow, TopCoder or any of the other coding competitions out there, and crank though some sample problems. Finally, check out a book like "Smart and Gets Things Done" by Joel Spolsky, or do a quick search for books about technical interview preparation. There’s no magic bullet here—just time and due diligence. Trust me, it will pay off.

I hope these tips help. Remember, the more time you spend preparing the better job you’ll do during your interview. Additionally, being well prepared will allow you to relax and be yourself which in turn will give the company an idea of what you’d be like as a colleague. Good luck out there this week. Feel free to share any technical interview stories. I always enjoy hearing from people about what they encounter. Finally...take a deep breath and rock the interview.

Introduction: Since we’ve wrapped up our “Diary of a Summer Intern” series, we’ve decided to relaunch the Googlers Beta series to give you an insight into the work that interns at Google are doing year-round, not just over summer! Our second post comes from Sara Tozawa, who is interning in Google’s Tokyo office. Sara studies applied physics at the Tokyo University of Science.

I’ve been working on the Webmaster team at Google’s Tokyo office as a BOLD (Building Opportunities for Leadership and Development) Intern since this past August. Although this internship flew by much quicker than I expected, I will never forget a single day that I was able to spend here at Google Japan.

One of the greatest aspects of my internship was none other than the Webmaster team I was working with at Google. I was surrounded by a group of extremely supportive Googlers who were willing to help me out with anything and everything, and not just the technical aspects. Learning to live in the Google environment was something that I quickly became accustomed to, and my team made me feel right at home.

During the first week of my internship, I could immediately see the drive of my team when they gave me a large project to complete on my own. For this project, I worked on the layout of the Developer’s Quiz website for Google Developer Day 2011. Through designing this website, I learned how to use Google specific systems and rules that were extremely helpful when coding for websites.

During my internship, I was also in charge of creating an internal website for the webmasters team. I was able to work alongside my own mentor for this project, and was exposed to the amazing intelligence and creativity of this team. In order to create this website, I used numerous different types of tools, some familiar like HTML, JavaScript, Linux, and Photoshop, and others that I had never used before like CSS3, Closure, Goro, and Vim. Although most of these tools were very new to me, I was able to quickly learn how to utilize them just by working next to Googlers on my team who helped me tremendously for this project. Googlers are also good at creating and using their shortcuts, which helped with my efficiency throughout my internship.

Not only did I work extensively on these projects with my team, but I also joined many clubs where I could learn things that I never imagined I would be exposed to, like Salsa dancing! The clubs made me feel as though I had joined a social club in college again! The culture and atmosphere at Google was also a highlight of my experience. Everyday I looked forward to lunch time, with different menus everyday and amazingly delicious desserts. Each time we have our Sushi day Fridays, I am reminded that unfortunately, another week of my internship has gone by. TGIF was also another event that happened every Friday. It was a great opportunity for me, because this was when I was exposed to Googlers in other teams, and was given the opportunity to network and meet other amazing Googlers in a very relaxed atmosphere.

What I love about Google is not only the incredible Googlers you are surrounded by everyday, but also the different types of people you could meet here. The atmosphere at Google (micro-kitchens full of snacks, game areas, etc.) makes employees to be highly-motivated and so many of them work on projects that really impressed me. One of the most impressive works for me was the “Play! with Chrome” page. I first saw this page before my internship started and when I talked about how much I liked the page with my mentor, he told me he was the one who created it!

Employees have a unique personality, are intelligent, creative and nice. They are the ones who made each day here in Google an amazing comprehensive and fulfilling experience. As a female BOLD intern, I thought there were may be some differences with other interns and Googlers at the office. However, there was not a moment during my internship where I felt advantaged/disadvantaged by being a female intern. This was when I also realized how comfortable of a workplace Google is, where you won’t be taken away by disruptions.

During my internship at Google, I met many amazing people, learned new skills, and had tons of new experiences that inspired me a lot. Through this internship, I was able to discover my own skills and passion, and it gave me a clear path to what I really want to do as web designer. This path will now teach me, even after my internship, the necessary steps and drive I will need in order to acquire my dream.

Introduction: Taylor is a Google Student Ambassador at Boise State University. He is currently pursuing a double major in Communication and Computer Science, and loves exploring new study methods, one of which he shares with you here.

Fall is in full swing, and for many students (like me), that means midterms. Luckily for us, Google provides tools that make studying a breeze!

One subject I spend lots of time studying is math. Sometimes it’s hard to catch everything in class, so I started looking up each topic we cover on YouTube. Being able to see lots of different people explain how different problems are solved really helps me understand the material. In order to keep track of the videos that help me the most, I create playlists that correspond to the chapters in our textbook. With the midterm coming up, I merged each video in my playlists into one mega midterm playlist. When I study now, I shuffle the playlist, pause the video to work out the problem, then hit play to see the process used to solve. After the video is done, another topic is chosen randomly, and I repeat the process!

To take this study technique to the next level, I organized a Hangout on Google+ with friends from math class. In order to make sure I would stay on task, I made a Circle for my math class friends, and set my availability to hang out to just them. We weren’t all on at the same time, but that’s what’s cool about Hangouts-- people can mingle, just like at school. Being able to watch YouTube videos together and talk about our interpretations of problem solving processes along with that of the video’s creator was awesome (and it will be even better when we aren’t working on homework!). I’m looking forward to trying out Hangouts with Extras when we move into more topics that have to do with graphing. Having a shared sketchpad with a full revision history will be a great study tool!

Being able to use Google+ Hangouts instead of making time to head to campus is awesome! I can’t wait to see how this will change the face of online classes and office hours, as well as providing more ways to interact with fellow students!

Posted by Taylor Bell, Google Student Ambassador, Boise State University

We are happy to announce that the 2012 GRAD CS Forum application is now open!

As part of Google’s ongoing commitment to encouraging students of underrepresented backgrounds in technology to pursue graduate study, we are pleased to host the 2012 Google Graduate Researchers in Academia of Diverse backgrounds (GRAD) CS Forum. This forum will bring together students who are historically underrepresented in the field to connect with one another and with Google.

During the second day, researchers mapped out their own research topics during the “unconference” style portion.

The 2012 GRAD CS Forum will invite up to 75 computer scientists to an all-expenses paid forum that will run Wednesday evening through Friday afternoon on January 18–20 at Google’s offices in Mountain View, CA and San Francisco, CA.

The Google GRAD CS Forum will include technical talks from established researchers – both from Google and universities – and a unique occasion to build and strengthen networks with other emerging researchers. Students will also enjoy tours of the Googleplex, have the opportunity to meet with Google engineers in their focus areas, and have fun exploring the San Francisco Bay Area.

Eligibility Requirements
Applicants must:

be a computer science (or related technical discipline) graduate student currently enrolled in a Masters or PhD program at a university in North America

demonstrate academic excellence and leadership in the computing field

maintain a cumulative GPA of at least 3.3 on a 4.0 scale or 4.3 on a 5.0 scale or equivalent in their current program

How to Apply
Applicants will be asked to provide:

a current copy of your resume

unofficial or official copies of your transcripts from both your undergraduate and graduate degree-granting institutions

brief thesis abstract or description of your current research (500 words or less)

Please note that recommendation letters are not required.

The forum is open to all qualified graduate students, and is committed to addressing diversity in our company and in the technology industry. Students who are a member of a group that is historically under-represented in the technology industry are encouraged to apply, including women, Native American, African American and Hispanic students as well as students with disabilities.

Self-driving cars. Computers that beat humans on Jeopardy!. The magic of Google Translate. If you want to learn about artificial intelligence, which powers all of the above, but don’t know how to get started, then the 2011 AI Challenge may be just what you’re looking for. In the 2011 AI Challenge, sponsored by Google, you will create a computer program that controls a colony of ants. Your ants must search for food in order to multiply, and also defend your colony from ants controlled by other players. You submit your code online (updating and adding to it as often as you wish) and watch your ants battle it out against ants submitted by other people from around the world.

You may be wondering what sort of experience you need to compete in the AI Challenge. The answer is: none! The AI Challenge, which is run by students for students, is accessible to everyone, from experts to beginners. There are tutorials, walkthroughs and strategy guides available for free on the website to get you started. You can even download a simple working entry to use as a starting point.

So what are you waiting for? Submissions open today on aichallenge.org and will close in December. Join the challenge and you’ll be able to submit a basic entry and see your name on the global leaderboard (among thousands of other competitors!) in under 5 minutes.

Introduction: Jeff Moore, Lead Engineering Recruiter at Google, talks about the benefits of internships and how they can help advance your career in this week's Recruiter Tips & Tricks. Interested in internships at Google? Check out our newly redesigned student jobs site at www.google.com/students.

Those of you looking for full time work are probably knee deep in interviews and networking. Awesome, keep at it. But there is another whole recruiting phenomenon going on right now: internships.

Internships are HUGE for those of you in school and looking to jumpstart your career, but they are often overlooked by students who are focused solely on grades or extracurricular activities. My advice is to take a summer or semester and do an internship. You’ll have a great time and appreciate the experience. Here’s why:

Experience - One of the best ways to get work experience is to do an internship. I know some of you are thinking something like “Intern = designated coffee maker.” Not true! Internships are a chance for you to work on a cool project and help make an impact within an organization. I had an intern last summer—her project was something I’d been dying to do for a few years and now it’s done. I believe we call that a “win-win.”

Learning - That’s right, learning. A lot of times, early on, you aren’t 100% sure what you want to do as a career. Internships allow you to give different types of jobs and industries a try and see if you like them. Think of it as a free trial. You’ll be surprised how much you can learn during a few months on a job and this newfound knowledge will help you decide where you want to go.

Practice - Internships are like practice for full-time jobs. The whole process runs very similar to full-time hiring, so this is your chance to interview, meet people and work in a much less stressful situation than you will once you have graduated. Think about it, you don’t want the first interview you’ve ever done in your life to be after you’ve graduated and are under serious pressure to find a job. You’ve gotta practice if you want to hone those skills and get the dream job.

Networking! - Ah, what would a blog post be without a networking reference? Internships give you an opportunity to meet great people who can help you throughout your career. It doesn’t matter if it’s someone on your team, your intern host or someone with similar interests, internships expand your network. And, as you know, networking is the key to an effective job search.

So, there you go. If you’re still in school, find an internship and learn as much as you can. Good luck with the search this week and happy interviews everyone!

We’re gearing up for the next crop of BOLD summer interns: applications for summer 2012 are open and you can apply at our BOLD website today. Summer 2011 was our largest BOLD Diversity Internship Program yet, with interns working in business areas like sales, marketing, people operations and finance across 11 offices in North America. In addition to working on challenging projects, the BOLD interns made an impact by participating in employee resources groups such as the Black Googlers Network and the Gayglers and teaching Googler-to-Googler classes. Interns also attended the weekly Executive Speaker Series, hosting and moderating discussions with Google leaders such as Chief Legal Officer David Drummond and SVP New Business Development Megan Smith.

BOLD Internships are open to sophomores and juniors currently studying at a 4 year university in the US or Canada. Internships are 11 weeks in length during the summer. You can learn more about the work that some of our interns did this past summer through the intern video series (another BOLD intern project) and FAQ. All of our interns make an impact on Google's business, products and users, while contributing to our unique culture. Here are a couple of videos that give you the scoop directly from BOLD alumni, and we hope you'll apply here for summer 2012.

Whether you want to wow your professor with an end-of-year presentation, persuade friends to join the study abroad program, or share a dynamic book report with classmates, the new Google presentations can help.

With more than 50 new format and design features and advanced collaboration tools, it’s even easier to work in teams to build A+ presentations. Check out the Google Docs blog to learn more about the latest features and how to get started.

Today we launched a new version of our student job site for the United States, Europe, Middle East and Africa. With the new site layout, we hope to make navigating for job opportunities at Google easier and more intuitive. You can begin your search by selecting your area of interest: technical or sales, general & administrative. You can then select whether you’re interested in full-time roles or internships. Lastly, you can choose your region, or a region where you’d be interested in working. We believe that this process will be much more effective for students, who can now quickly see available opportunities of interest to them.

There’s also more information on the hiring process, programs and scholarships, and what life is like at Google. We hope you like the improvements we’ve made and encourage you to take a look around.

Recruiters tend to be pretty unique folks. We’re generally outgoing and can usually have a conversation with anyone about most anything. That being said, talking to recruiters is a bit of an art form. Let me explain a few thoughts on how best to work with a recruiter.

Do - Tell us what you are looking for in a job. Being confident and assertive in your goals is like music to our ears and helps us figure out if we have a role for you.

Don’t - Say things like “I’m not sure,” “I’m up for anything,” “I don’t care what I do.” These phrases are a turn-off for recruiters. We want to hire you, tell me why we should!

Do - Show some personality and sense of humor. Depending on the day, that friendly recruiter you’re talking to may have spoken with several hundred people by the time you get to them. We appreciate a good joke or funny personal story, and it helps make an impression.

Don’t - Be unprofessional. Recruiters talk to people for a living, it’s our job. No matter how friendly the tone, remember the conversation is strictly professional. Never ask a recruiter out on a date or put them in an uncomfortable situation. Recruiters want to see if you’re a fit for their organization and that’s it. All business.

Do - Ask questions. Recruiters don’t expect you to know everything there is to know about our organizations. We are more than happy to answer questions and help you learn about the company. I love it when a candidate asks me, “What do you like best at Google?” and then follows up with, “and what do you like least?” Recruiters like thoughtful and interesting discussions. Engage us.

Don’t - Make assumptions about what you think we’ll want to hear. Nothing will drive a recruiter crazy faster than when someone drops a bunch of cliche, elevator pitch lingo into a conversation. Be thoughtful and genuine and recruiters will return the favor.

Don’t - Stress. Recruiters don’t care if you stumble over your words or forget our names or confuse us with other companies. We get it. Looking for a job is stressful and sometimes stress causes us to do funny things. Take a deep breath, it will all be fine.

I hope these tips help. Good recruiters will talk to anyone about anything in an effort to find the best talent on the planet. Reach out, talk to those recruiters and find a cool new job. Until next week, good luck!

Introduction: We are re-launching the Googlers Beta series and bringing you the unique stories and experiences of Google interns. Though most interns spend their time working at Google offices over the summer, these interns are putting in their time during the fall and winter seasons. Our first post comes from Sergey Serebryakov, a student at St. Petersburg State University and a current software engineering intern in our Tokyo office.

Tell us about yourself.Sergey Serebryakov: My home town is Petrozavodsk, situated in the northwestern part of Russia. I finished my high school there, and then moved to St. Petersburg to join Faculty of Mathematics of St. Petersburg State University. Currently, I’m pursuing my specialist degree in software engineering. I like programming competitions of all kinds.

How did you end up interning at Google?SS: In Russia, it’s common for undergraduates to start a professional internship or part-time job during the third or fourth year of study. So I started looking for opportunities in August 2010, just before my third year. I had sent my CV to several local software companies, and then found out about Google’s engineering internships in St. Petersburg. A friend of mine started his internship at Google Moscow just two months before that, so I considered the opportunity and sent in my CV. After one phone interview and three on-site interviews, I finally joined Google as a Software Engineer in Test intern in October 2010. It was an amazing six months! I learned a lot about testing at Google and developed a Chrome extension to help web developers debug their pages and scripts.

I left Google in April 2011 to concentrate on my term paper on computer vision and to pass my exams at the university. As summer approached, I started looking for another internship and was particularly interested in going abroad. I noticed a tweet from @GoogleStudents about open internship positions in Tokyo, with a note “no Japanese required”. This was looking like a perfect match, so I applied immediately! In a week, I got an email from a Japanese recruiter informing me that I would be set up with some interviews. I met with a few engineers over video conference, everything went well and I was invited to work in the Tokyo office.

What projects are you working on? Who do you collaborate with?SS: I’ve joined the Mobile Local Search team, and I’m working on a project with my manager. The project is called mobile local details, and its purpose is to provide mobile search users with detailed information about local businesses.

The whole Mobile Search Team consists of very hard workers, always ready to help when I’m stuck on something. I’m very grateful to them, as I can’t speak even basic Japanese (shame on me!), so they use English in meetings and in everyday communication. We are part of Google’s Global Mobile Search team, so we have weekly meetings over video conference with teammates Mountain View, and these happen in the early morning.

Sergey's homemade Quake-o-meter

What’s unique about each of the offices you worked in: St. Petersburg and Tokyo?SS: The St. Petersburg office is small, and about half the Googlers there are engineers. The Tokyo office is much bigger, and people there are doing many different jobs. Engineers in St. Petersburg are mainly working on Chrome, while in Tokyo there is a wide variety of projects. Also, in St. Petersburg there were only a few interns, while in Tokyo this summer there are many engineering interns from all around the world, from Argentina, Poland, Spain, China, Korea, Vietnam -- only to name a few. We have lunches, parties and even Hackathons together. Googlers in Tokyo also have after-work clubs (Erika, a summer intern, blogged about them). A funny difference is that in the St. Petersburg office (where it’s much colder), there is a fridge full of ice cream and in the Tokyo office (where it’s much warmer) we have a free vending machines that serve hot drinks instead. Also, in Japan there are earthquakes almost every week. The ones I’ve felt haven’t been very strong, but they’re still noticeable. Last Wednesday, there was a strong typhoon, so we couldn’t leave the office for several hours. We ended up having a good time drinking tea and listening to the rain.

What’s your favorite part about interning at Google?SS: The Google Tokyo office is fun! There’s a library full of books (including a lot of manga) and plenty of game rooms (with video games and ping pong). When working long hours, you can refresh yourself with snacks and beverages from the microkitchens. But my favorite part is the support and recognition I get from my team, which consists of very pleasant people. Every time I have a question and cannot find the answer, I would ask one of them and always get help. They kindly correct me when I do something wrong, and they are generous with positive comments when my code looks good. This keeps me motivated. I think this is an important part of being Googley. I can feel this spirit even in things outside of work. I was actually praised for having a good appetite once!

Tell us about yourself.Red Daly: I was born and raised in the U.S., in Vienna, Virginia, but I have been living down the road from Google’s Mountain View headquarters for the last five years, studying at Stanford University, where I received both my B.S. and M.S. in computer science.

How did you end up at Google?RD: I wanted to live outside the United States for a little while, and I would feel pretty silly moving out of Silicon Valley to join or create a startup. I decided to search for a company with offices in both the U.S. and cool European cities, so I could work abroad for awhile and eventually come back home. Google was the first company to come to mind. A map of all the Google offices revealed the possibility of relocating to a new part of the world. Europe was beckoning me to work there, and after looking at the photos of Google’s Swiss office, I knew it was the place I wanted to be.

What were you most looking forward before you started? Any concerns or fears?RD: I was looking forward to seeing how Google performs all its engineering feats. It's like learning how a magician performs his tricks. My only concern was what I perceived to be a lack of beards among the Googlers I witnessed when I came in for my interviews. Perhaps it is during the winter months that the beards grow in thickest, and I came out of season. In any case I intend to remain vigilant.

Tell us what you’re working on at Google.RD:I am applying my machine learning background to improve the advertising experience for users, and, in turn, advertisers. Officially, I’m working on the product ads quality team, which works on improving ad formats for commercial products, like sweater dresses and motherboards.

How do you like living in Zurich? Do you miss anything about California?RD: My first few months have been super. The superiority of Swiss citizens’ English to my own has surprised me the most. Somehow, people around here speak three to five languages with exceptional fluency. Also, I knew the Alps were beautiful, but I didn't realize until moving here how easy it is to hop on a train and be on a mountaintop two hours later.

Zurich is an amazing city--do you want a laundry list of awesome? This summer, the weather was fantastic enough for impromptu lake swims and plenty of alpine hikes. The public transport here ranks among the best in the world: Not only is it easy to get around this city, but a train will hustle me back to work on Monday morning no matter what corner of Switzerland I’m in the night before. We are only a hop away from Germany, a skip away from France, and a jump away from Italy, so weekend getaway options abound.

Of course, I miss California. The Pacific Coast Highway, bike rides to Pescadero, the redwoods, and the fluid life of a university student all come to mind every now and again. But on the whole, life in Zurich is living up to expectations and then some.

What do you like most about working at Google?RD: An idea that starts off in a single Googler’s head can have a massive global impact. I appreciate that Google can propel good ideas into reality in a way that affects a lot of lives.

What’s the most challenging part of working at Google?RD: Choice is the killer challenge for me. There is so much buzz in the office every day, and my job, like most here, comes with a high level of freedom. It can be overwhelming deciding which Tech Talks to attend, how to choose my 20% project, or which flavor of Ben & Jerry’s ice cream to try next in the cafe.

The way you accepted your job offer was very "Googley" acceptance. Can you share the story?RD: After graduation I spent two months traveling around Europe and southeast Asia. For the first month, I walked the Camino de Santiago, a seven-hundred kilometer pilgrimage from the Spanish-French border to Santiago de Compostela, Spain. I accepted the offer from Google on the same day that I crossed the highest point of the whole walk. It seemed logical to snap a photo capturing the moment.

Any tips for students on the job hunt or advice for students still in school?RD: Most of my peers did not consider working abroad after school, so I would encourage more graduates to consider broadening their horizons. My tip for current students: study computer science, or another highly technical discipline. I have not encountered a field where scientific skills are not extremely valuable.

How about a fun fact—what's your favorite cheese?RD: It's hard to globally maximize such a high dimensional and delicious space! Parmigiano Reggiano might be my favorite, though.

Can plants survive beyond Earth? Can proteins observed in space reveal the mysteries of life? Science experiments aboard the International Space Station could unlock the answers and now we're giving you a chance to ask the questions. Today, we’re launching YouTube Space Lab with Lenovo, in cooperation with Space Adventures, National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the European Space Agency (ESA), and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA). Space Lab is a new galactic channel on YouTube that will lift off from your laptop, taking you to interesting and awesome videos from around the world... and beyond.

Interested students are invited to come up with an idea for a science experiment that can be conducted in space and upload a video explaining it to YouTube. The YouTube community and a panel of distinguished scientists, astronauts and expert judges, including Professor Stephen Hawking, will pick the best ones. If your video is selected, it will be performed in the International Space Station (ISS) and live streamed on YouTube to the world.

We'll also throw in some out-of-this-world prizes: like ZERO-G flights, Lenovo IdeaPad laptops and your choice of either a trip to Tanegashima Island, Japan, to watch your experiment blast off in a rocket bound for the ISS, or—once you’re 18—a one-of-a-kind astronaut training experience in Star City, Russia, the training center for Russian cosmonauts. For more information on how to enter, including eligibility requirements and experiment guidelines, check out the competition page on the channel or the official rules.

All future astronauts and space enthusiasts can find inspiration in the space related content on YouTube.com/SpaceLab. Space Lab is just one of many educational channels available under YouTube.com/EDU. Educators can also visit YouTube.com/Teachers to learn how to better incorporate video into the classroom. We're developing a YouTube for Schools pilot aimed at making YouTube accessible in more schools. If you want to be notified when it's ready, sign up here.

Blast off now and be part of a global experiment where your teacher is an astronaut and your classroom, space!

From August 10 to 12, 2011, we hosted more than 150 scholarship recipients and faculty members for the 2011 Google Scholarship Program Award Ceremony and Scholars’ Retreat in Beijing. These outstanding undergraduate, graduate, and PhD computer science and software engineering students, coming from more than 30 universities across China Mainland, Taiwan, Japan, Korea and Southeast Asia, were the recipients of this year’s Google Anita Borg Memorial Scholarship and Google Excellence Scholarship. The Google Anita Borg Memorial Scholarship Program is built to encourage women who excel in the world of computing and technology to become active role models and leaders in their selective fields. The Google Excellence scholarship recognizes outstanding students who study computer science or software engineering, and encourages them to continue to excel in these fields through research and innovation. It was a rare and exciting experience to have so many enthusiastic students coming together from numerous countries and regions in Beijing.

During the two-and-a-half day event, students and faculty members had an intensive agenda, where they were able to experience a one-day city tour of Beijing, followed by a variety of talks by Googlers. Participants were given the opportunity to communicate and network with several Google engineers and product managers in panel discussions and product demos, and share creative ideas with scholars from different regions in several breakout sessions.

In 2010, the Google Scholarship Program kicked off with 20 universities participating from China. This year, the Scholarship Program expanded to 22 universities, with a simultaneous increase in the number of scholarship recipients. The Google Anita Borg Memorial Scholarship program expanded to five additional universities awarding 68 students from ten different universities. The Google Excellence Scholarship program expanded to two more universities in Mainland China awarding 110 students from 22 universities.

While Google strongly values technological innovation and development, we also continue to value the importance of creating and maintaining strong relationships with the leading academic institutions in our APAC region. By creating a supportive environment for these young and talented students and professionals, we are leading each of these individuals to realize that they hold the future of technology in their hands. We hope to continue developing a global supportive peer network that will connect the growing pool of talented individuals in the world of women and technology.

Introduction: We continue the "My Summer @ Google" series with a post from Tasha, a rising sophomore studying computer science at New Mexico State University. Tasha (who you may remember from a previous post) was a part of this summer’s Freshmen Engineering Practicum internship program.

Every morning, I would jump out of bed, excited that I was actually an intern at Google and I could not wait to see what amazing things the Googleplex had in store for me. As I arrived on the Google campus, I would grab breakfast and head to my desk, where I was surrounded by my four fellow interns: Ashley Sarver, University of Florida; Enrique Sada, University of Texas at Austin; Erica Hansen, Carnegie Mellon; and Mario Villaplana, Stanford. The five of us made up the first class of the Freshmen Engineering Practicum internship program.

Tasha (center) with the other Freshmen Engineering Practicum interns.

Freshmen Engineering Practicum is a ten-week internship program that is designed to give rising sophomores the opportunity to experience what the atmosphere and working environment is like at Google. The participants are assigned a project to work on for the entirety of the internship, to be completed alongside an existing team of other Googlers. The program also pairs each participant with a Google engineer mentor who can provide guidance and advice, both technical and non-technical.

We worked closely with the mobile search team on iOS UI test automation for the Google Search app. Over the course of the summer, the main focus of the project was to decrease the amount of time it took to manually conduct regression tests. Our job was to not only turn each manual test case into an automated test that could perform on its own, but make it so that several automated tests would run consecutively. By the end of the summer, we had automated our goal of about half of the test cases that we were given, and with our command-line tool we could actually run the tests in mere minutes instead of hours!

At the conclusion of the program, I had gained this sense of confidence that I was ready to go back to school and rock all of my classes with all of my the new and improved skills that I learned over the previous ten weeks. First of all, working with a team taught me that good communication becomes essential to the team’s success. I believe that our team worked really well together and our success was dependent on the sharing and communication of information, ideas, or problems relating to the different aspects of our project. Furthermore, being in a team environment improved my people and teamwork skills, which I know will benefit me in the future. Additionally, I learned that products like Google Docs, Calendar, and Gmail make it very easy to collaborate with team members, and I definitely plan on utilizing those tools for group projects during the school year.

Each day of work was more exciting than the previous. One of the best parts was that my summer experience was not only full of work, but it was also full of fun! Playing ultimate frisbee with the Google ultimate interns and fun events like the intern boat cruise were only a couple of the epic activities that I got to experience. Along the way, I met so many incredible people and formed many unforgettable friendships. Freshmen Engineering Practicum made my summer phenomenal, and I can’t wait to see what the future has in store!

Introduction: Jeff Moore, lead engineering recruiter at Google, continues the Recruiter Tips & Tricks series with a post on one of the most important parts of your job search: networking!

OK, welcome back everyone. I hope the job search is going well and you’re having fun with it. Having a little fun will serve you well and help you keep things in perspective. Now you’ve got a great resume and you’ve started meeting with people to learn about roles. Awesome stuff, I love it. Now the hard work begins...networking. Networking is a must in a modern job search. More than ever you need to be building relationships and using those connections to get you in the door. Networking is hard, but you’ll find the more you do it the easier it gets. Here are a few tips I think will help:

Start slow - Jumping in with both feet is tough. You’re new at this and it’s not comfortable. So, take a deep breath and start slow. Reach out to a former teacher or professor who you’ve always admired and ask them for thoughts/advice on your job search. Maybe it’s a former roommate or club member. Talk to someone and get comfortable with the idea of talking to people about your job search.

Set goals - I’m a huge believer in setting goals, especially around something like networking. Setting goals will give you a sense of accomplishment and allow you to define your search by more than just “I’ve got a job!”. So, set a goal and work towards it. You’ll thank me for this tip later.

Organize - Networking is about relationships....and helping each other accomplish things. In order to do this well, you need to be organized. This is where “social media” comes into play. On your Google+ account put people into special circles (my personal favorite is “recruiting peeps”) and organize them so you can target specific sets of people for your search. Same with your other social networking tools...use the notes and tagging features to put information into each contact so you know why you are connected to them. Start now and make those connections work for you.

Make it real - Tangent alert....as we’ve gotten more connected with technology we’ve gotten LESS connected in real life. In order to network most effectively you need to meet people in person (can you imagine!). Put a face to the voice and build a real life connection with the person. How you do this doesn’t matter - coffee, lunch, dinner, drink, ice cream....whatever, just get out there and be a person!

Pay it forward - Networking is not a one way street. Frankly, the best networking is when both parties can take something from the conversation. Additionally, you never know when someone can help you or when you can help them. So, if you meet someone and you can help them with something...do it! Pay it forward!! Make the world a better place with your networking...and it will come back around, I promise.

OK, that’s it this week. Networking is hard, but you’ll find the more you do it the easier it gets. I hope you find these tips helpful. I’d love to hear from you, so comment or ping me on my Google+ if you have any success stories you’d like to share. Happy hunting, you’re doing fine.

Today we are excited to announce that applications are now being accepted for two scholarships in 2012.

Google Europe Scholarship for Students with Disabilities is now open to students with a disability who will be enrolled in study for the 2012/2013 academic year at a university in Europe. Students must be enrolled in a computer science, computer engineering, informatics or closely related technical program. People with a disability, mental health or other long term health condition (including dyslexia, dyspraxia, visual impairment, hearing impairment, diabetes, epilepsy, depression, anxiety disorders, and any other physical or mental impairments or health conditions) are eligible to apply.

Google Anita Borg Memorial Scholarship: Europe, Middle East and Africa is now open to current female students who will be enrolled in study for the 2012/2013 academic year at a university in Europe, Middle East and Africa. Students must be enrolled in a computer science, computer engineering, informatics or closely related technical program and maintain a record of strong academic performance.

The deadline for both of the scholarships is 1st February 2012 and the announcement will be made in May 2012. Scholarship recipients will receive a EUR 7,000 scholarship and Scholars and Finalists will be invited to attend a networking retreat in June which will be held at a Google office in Europe. Take a look at the following video to hear some inspirational words from scholarship recipients for 2011 speaking at the Scholars’ Retreat earlier this Summer.

Finally, these scholarships are just two of the opportunities we offer to students in order to encourage them to excel in technology and become active role models and leaders in the field. For more information about other Google programs in EMEA, please visit www.google.com/university/emea.

How large is one billion? One billion hours ago modern humans were living in the Stone Age. One billion minutes ago, the Roman Empire was flourishing. If you traveled from Earth to the Moon three times, your journey would measure one billion meters.

Today, we’ve reached our own one billion mark: Google Earth has been downloaded more than one billion times since it was first introduced in 2005. That’s more than one billion downloads of the Google Earth desktop client, mobile apps and the Google Earth plug-in—all enabling you to to explore the world in seconds, from Earth to Mars to the ocean floor.

We’re proud of our one billion milestone, but we’re even more amazed at the way people have used Google Earth to explore the world. When we founded Keyhole, Inc. back in 2001 (the company was acquired by Google in 2004), we never imagined our geospatial technology would be used by people in so many unexpected ways. At www.OneWorldManyStories.com, we’ve collected stories from people all over the world who use Google Earth to follow their dreams, discover new and distant places, or make the world a better place.

Visit www.OneWorldManyStories.com to learn about people like Professor David Kennedy of the University of Western Australia, who’s used Google Earth to scan thousands of square kilometers in Saudi Arabia and Jordan. Professor Kennedy has discovered ancient tombs and geoglyphs dating back at least 2,000 years, all without leaving his desk in Perth. Architect Barnaby Gunning, after the April 6, 2009 earthquake near L’Aquila Italy, encouraged his fellow citizens to start rebuilding the city virtually in 3D. Their online urban planning will aid city planners and architects. Retired English teacher Jerome Burg created Google Lit Trips, which uses Google Earth to match places in famous books to their geographical locations, encouraging students to create connections between the stories they read in school and the world they live in.

We hope you enjoy the site, and that it illustrates how some of those one billion downloads of Google Earth have been making a difference. You can explore these stories right in your browser with the Google Earth plug-in or download the KML files to view in Google Earth.

If you have a Google Earth story you’d like to share, we’d love to hear from you. If you don’t have Google Earth, download it now and be part of the next billion stories. While it’s inspiring to see how Google Earth has touched the lives of so many, we know the best is yet to come.